Cuttlefish belongs to the order of mollusks from the class of cephalopods. Mollusks are soft-bodied invertebrates such as snails, oysters, and octopuses. And cephalopods are a class that is characterized by bilateral symmetry and the presence of 8, 10 or more tentacles around the head. They are highly organized animals and differ from other mollusks in their more perfect structure and complex behavior.

Appearance

This marine life the body is oval, slightly compressed. The main part is called the mantle, it is a skin-muscular pouch. The inner shell performs the function of a skeleton, protects the organs of the mollusk, and its cavities serve for fast swimming. On the head of the animal, fused with the body, there are large eyes and an outgrowth resembling a beak, with which it grabs and crushes food. The mollusk also has eight tentacles with suction cups plus two front probes, which it uses while hunting.

The common cuttlefish is usually 20-35 centimeters long. There are individuals whose length is not more than two centimeters. There are giants among these mollusks, reaching a length of more than a meter. The average lifespan of these marine animals is 1-2 years. Their enemies in the water are dolphins, rays and sharks.

Characteristics

Cuttlefish are able to change the color of their body due to chromatophore cells, which are controlled by the brain. Mollusks use this ability to disguise themselves and to communicate with their relatives. These animals also have an ink sac, which is a capsule divided into two compartments. The first contains ready-made ink, the other contains the cells that produce them.

In case of danger, the animal throws ink out and creates a black cloud that hides it from enemies.

Nutrition and reproduction

These marine animals feed on fish, shrimp, shellfish, crabs. The cuttlefish releases a stream of water from the siphon into the sand and, raising it, thus extracts small food. She catches large and hard prey with her tentacles and bites her beak. This marine mollusk lays small black eggs, after which the female dies. Newborn individuals are physically fully formed and able to use the ink pouch.

Habitat

The cuttlefish lives in warm tropical and subtropical seas near the coasts of Eurasia and Africa. Most likely to meet her in the Mediterranean Sea and in Atlantic Ocean. Mollusks are found most often in shallow water, they choose a sandy bottom. When threatened, they sink to the bottom and use their fins to burrow into the sand.

Main types

The most common types of mollusk are a few.

  • Common cuttlefish. It is brownish in color with all sorts of spots and stripes. It is caught for the purpose of eating.
  • Pharaoh. In addition to the ability to disguise, it is able to change color skin. Often this happens when the mollusk is in an agitated state.
  • Painted. Her skin color not only shimmers with bright colors, but can also emit a neon glow. This is the most beautiful cuttlefish.
  • Broad-armed. The largest cuttlefish in size is about 1.5 meters in length and weighs about 10 kilograms.
  • Striped. Deadly poisonous animal. For characteristic coloration this species also called pajama cuttlefish.

How are people used?

The meat of some species of cuttlefish is eaten because it contains omega-6 and omega-3 acids, vitamins, minerals and amino acids essential for human health. The inner shell, the so-called "cuttlefish bone", is used to make jewelry, and the shell is a source of calcium for indoor birds. The ink produced by the cuttlefish has been used by people since ancient times as a dye. This dark brown color is called sepia from the Latin spelling of the genus Sepia.

The ink of these molluscs also finds use in homeopathic medicine.

Amazing Facts

Cuttlefish are very unusual animals. AT this can be seen in the following examples.

  • The cuttlefish moves backwards. First, it draws water in through a side slot and a special funnel (siphon), and then pushes out a stream of water and makes a movement back torso forward.
  • This clam has as many as three hearts.
  • The blood of these animals is blue-green in color due to the presence of hemocyanin protein.
  • The cuttlefish is called the "sea chameleon" because it can imitate the color, shape and texture of surrounding objects. These mollusks are even able to depict the movements of algae on their body.
  • This is one of the smartest animals. Its brain is larger than that of other types of molluscs and fish. The cuttlefish has an excellent memory and a developed nervous system.
  • It is believed that in the Middle Ages it became the prototype mythical character, called the "sea monk", as it looks appropriate. The fluttering mantle of a large cuttlefish could be mistaken for the hood of a mystical monk.

The cuttlefish is an amazing creature of nature and an interesting object to observe. Anyone who has met these unusual marine mollusks in the water element will agree with this. Currently, cuttlefish are even kept at home in aquariums, as watching their life is a very exciting experience.

Everything you need to know about cuttlefish can be found in the following video.

In the form of a wide plate, which occupies almost the entire dorsal side of the body. The oval body is bordered on both sides by a fin in the form of a narrow bony rim, stretching along the entire body. Only at the posterior end of the body are the left and right fins separated. Grasping arms are long, fully retracted into special sac-like fossae; the rest of the arms are short. Funnel with valve. 4th left hand in males it is hectocotylized at the base (that is, it differs in its structure and serves for the purpose of fertilization).

To the genus Sepia belongs to about 30 modern species living predominantly in warm seas, near the coast. Several fossil species are known from the Jurassic and Tertiary deposits. Cuttlefish can swim, but usually stay on the bottom, watching for their prey, consisting of fish and crustaceans.

common cuttlefish

Common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis L.) lives in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, it is 20-30 cm long, and grasping hands reach the same length. The arms have 4 rows of suction cups. The color is changeable - usually brownish on the back with light spots and stripes, slightly lighter on the belly, greenish on the arms, purple on the fins. Used for food. Sink, (so-called os sepiae) cuttlefish bone, or canary foam in the old days was used in medicine, now it serves only for polishing and is hung in a cage for indoor birds to clean the beak. Brown paint (sepia) is prepared from the liquid of the ink bag.

Perhaps the ten-tentacled black cuttlefish served as a "prototype" for the famous "sea monk" of the Middle Ages. The compiler of the "Encyclopedia of Superstition and Magic" A. Lehmann believes that the usual subconscious desire to see the familiar in the unknown played a role in this. A belly-down cuttlefish with tentacles picked up could indeed seem from afar to look like a monk with a fish tail. Imagination completed the scales, toothy mouth - and another monster created by the human imagination was born.

Links

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Synonyms:
  • caracara caranchi
  • Karakau Alexander Alexandrovich

See what "Cuttlefish" is in other dictionaries:

    cuttlefish- sepia, scarecrow, scarecrow, ugly, scarecrow, scarecrow, freak, decapoda, mug, cephalopod, mug, mymra, freak, image, scarecrow, baba yaga, toad, kikimora, mollusk, muzzle, scarier nuclear war Dictionary of Russian synonyms. cuttlefish see freak 1… … Synonym dictionary

    CUTTLEFISH- wives. sea ​​slug, slug, Sepla; pharmacy cuttlefish. S. officinalis; ink cuttlefish. S.octopus. Karakatitsyn, which belongs to her. Cuttlefish, pertaining to her Dictionary Dahl. IN AND. Dal. 1863 1866 ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

    CUTTLEFISH- 1) a genus of cephalopods, two-gill mollusks, a suborder of decapods, brown sepia paint is extracted from it (see). 2) short, clumsy person. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. Cuttlefish ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

    Cuttlefish- (inosk. bran.) tiny growth (own. cuttlefish sea slug). Wed Well, at least let your cuttlefish (dwarf), let them at least walk along with Nikolasha (dwarf) in front of the house. Leskov. Old years in the village of Plodomasov. 3, 5... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

    cuttlefish- cuttlefish, sepia ... Dictionary-thesaurus of synonyms of Russian speech

    CUTTLEFISH- cuttlefish, cuttlefish, wives. 1. Slightly mobile marine mollusk with short tentacles and a sepia-projecting sac (zool.). 2. trans. A person or animal with crooked and clumsy, spread apart legs or paws (colloquial disdain). Explanatory ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

    CUTTLEFISH- Cuttlefish, s. 1. female A cephalopod that produces a brown sepia dye. 2. trans., husband. and wives. About a short-legged, clumsy person (colloquial). Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

    Cuttlefish- (Sepia) genus of animals from the class cephalopods(Cephalopoda) of the order of the two-branched (Dibranchiata), suborder of the Decapods (Decapoda), from the family. Myopsidae. K. differ from all modern cephalopods in the presence of a peculiar calcareous internal ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

    Cuttlefish- (Sepia) a genus of cephalopods of the decapod order. Body oblong (length up to 25 cm), flattened; there are fins on the sides. "Hands" are equipped with suction cups; two longer "arms" are widened at the ends and serve to catch prey. Sink … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

    cuttlefish- Iskon. Explained as suf. derivative similar to noun. woodlouse type, from the lost short-legged (cf. belly), formed with the help of suf. at, from korok "leg" (see ham). Cuttlefish cuttlefish as a result of fixing akanya ... Etymological dictionary Russian language

Books

  • Unsurpassed. Sleeping Cuttlefish, Panov Vadim Yurievich. There was no scarier place in the oceans of Charm than the island of the Sleeping Cuttlefish. And there was no sailor who would agree to go to the sea of ​​Ruthlessness. It wasn't until the famous pirate...

Who is a sea cuttlefish? Hearing this question, an image of some formless and incomprehensible animal immediately appears before my eyes. Although perhaps knowledgeable people they wouldn’t talk like that about cuttlefish, because these animals can be incredibly beautiful, but they can’t be called shapeless at all. Cuttlefish belong to the class of cephalopods.

Appearance of cuttlefish

The body of the animal is elongated-oval and slightly flattened. The mantle forms the bulk of the body. The role of the skeleton is performed by the inner shell - and this is a feature that is unique to cuttlefish. The head and body are fused. The eyes are complex, they are located on the head of the mollusk. Even on the head of the cuttlefish there is something like a beak, this natural “adaptation” helps the mollusk a lot in obtaining food. Like many cephalopods, the cuttlefish has an ink sac.


Broad-armed cuttlefish, or broad-armed sepia (Sepia latimanus) - the most large view these animals

The mollusk has eight legs called tentacles. And each such tentacle is literally dotted with small suckers. On both sides of the body are fins, with the help of which the animal makes swimming movements.


The size of the body of the animal is relatively small for representatives of the class of cephalopods. The average adult cuttlefish reaches a length of about 20 centimeters. There are larger cuttlefish, but these are only representatives of individual species.


A notable feature of these mollusks is the ability to change the color of their body. Just like a chameleon! This process in cuttlefish is possible due to chromatophore cells located on the skin.


Most famous species cuttlefish are:

  • common cuttlefish;
  • Wide-armed cuttlefish (this is the largest of all cuttlefish: its length is about 1.5 meters, and its weight is up to 10 kilograms);
  • Painted cuttlefish (the most attractive among these molluscs, but poisonous);
  • Striped cuttlefish (nicknamed "pajama cuttlefish", also very poisonous);
  • Pharaoh cuttlefish.

Habitat of cuttlefish

The habitats of these mollusks are located in tropical and subtropical zones the seas washing the shores of Africa and Eurasia (parts of the so-called "Old World"). However, striped cuttlefish have even been found off the coast of Australia.

Lifestyle and behavior

Cuttlefish are solitary mollusks. And only in mating season they can be seen in groups. Occasionally, these animals are ready to migrate somewhere, but the majority live in one place all their lives.


These clams are very cautious. They are very easy to scare. Usually behave calmly, prefer unhurried movement under water. The depth of residence is small - these animals always try to adhere to the coastline.

Scientists believe that cuttlefish are one of the most intelligent representatives of invertebrates.

What does cuttlefish eat

Everything that is smaller than it in size and lives in the water falls on the "dining table" to the cuttlefish. The main food for these unusual animals are fish, crabs, shrimps, worms, and other shellfish.


Reproduction of cuttlefish

As for breeding offspring, cuttlefish have their own unique feature here: they breed only once in their entire life, after which they themselves die.

The mating season is very interesting. Individuals gather in whole flocks and choose their partners. After the choice has been made, the marriage game. Males and females shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow, thus showing their mood and relationship with their partner. Males gently stroke their "bride" with tentacles, seeking her location.


Striped cuttlefish (Sepioloidea lineolata) - another deadly poisonous species. It lives in the waters of Australia, for a specific color in English language also known as pajamas

With the help of the tentacles of the male, male germ cells enter the body of the female. After some time, eggs are laid (then the moment of fertilization also occurs). Egg clutches are attached to underwater plants and are often black in color. After spawning is over, adult cuttlefish die.

It's about cuttlefish the brightest photo. The animal is able to reproduce literally in a second in its body all the colors of the rainbow and glows amazingly in the dark. Her ability to disguise herself as anything is a gift from God.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 1.1)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 1.2)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 1.3)

What color is cuttlefish ink? Unlike octopuses, they are not black, but brown! The ink fluid of the marine animal you see in the photo is an excellent dye and flavoring seasoning and even a medicine.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 2.1)

In the cuttlefish in the photo, the body, like a jet engine, sucks into itself sea ​​water, and then with a sharp movement throws it away. The shell of a sea mollusk has chambers for air to fill up if you need to rise to the surface, or empty them to sink to the bottom.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 3.1)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 3.2)

Sepia cuttlefish is one of the best seafood delicacies, look at the pictures. The meat is the most tender and extremely healthy, and the ink in the seasoning is the best dye and flavoring marine additive.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 4.1)

You have never seen such a photo. The largest cuttlefish in the world is the giant Australian sepia 1.5 meters weighing up to 10 kg. Sweet beautiful monster!

(Photo cuttlefish No. 5.1)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 5.2)

Is there blue-green blood? In cuttlefish - yes, because it contains a green pigment, the blood of a mollusk is worse than human.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 6.1)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 6.2)

Some of the sea cuttlefish are terribly poisonous, ranked 7th among the ten most poisonous animals on earth. Here is a photo of a painted and striped cuttlefish - a beauty.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 7.1)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 7.2)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 7.3)

Take a look at the photo of the cuttlefish eye. It is unique in its complexity of structure and is similar to the human eye: it has a lens, ciliary muscles and an iris. The sea mollusk is very vigilant.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 8.1)

How is a cuttlefish similar to a turtle? She has a unique hollow shell that protects her and helps her to descend or rise to different water levels. The bone of this cover is used to feed canaries, in Chinese medicine and in jewelry.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 9.1)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 9.2)

The cuttlefish belongs to the class of cephalopods, that is, its legs (tentacles) grow from the head (photo - witness), and are skillfully used in its meal for cutting meat.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 10.1)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 10.2)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 10.3)

The sea cuttlefish has a huge heart potential: as many as 3 hearts. One carries the green blood around the body of the mollusk, while the other two pump the blood to the gills.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 11.1)

Cuttlefish stalking prey

(Photo cuttlefish No. 11.2)

A cuttlefish has babies once in a lifetime and dies soon after, barely reaching 2 years old. Photo of cuttlefish eggs in black or white, similar to a bunch of grapes, attached to vegetation.

(Photo cuttlefish No. 12.1)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 12.2)

(Photo cuttlefish No. 12.3)